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Parking Near My Tree Stand

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Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Swede » 11 08, 2022 •  [Post 1]

There are times and places where I park my vehicle very near (!00 yards away) my tree stand. Often it does not seem to matter. I was parked close by this last September when I shot my elk.

Here are some things I consider when deciding where to park:
Is the place I can park on an/next to an open road? If it is and vehicles use it, why not just drive up and stop there? Where I have my stand, the elk are used to seeing and hearing vehicles and they are still coming around in the evening. I even drove by the elk one evening. I did not stop and disturb them. That was the evening before I got my elk.
Will I disturb the elk by going to where I park? I only drive up close in the early afternoon when the elk are bedded in the timber above or even farther away.

I have had stands where I could hear people walking along the road about 100 yards away. I have heard vehicles drive by. When I was with RJ in Idaho, I was not far from an open gravel road.
Someone got out of a truck and started pounding on some heavy steel object. That activity caused the elk, that I knew were between me and them, to get up and come my way.
I have had stands near a very popular tourist destination where I could hear kids yelling and playing, dogs barking, vehicles, including many motorcycles. It would amaze you that anyone would hunt there. I hunt it because elk show up there and I have taken several at that spot. I have sat in a stand near where campers are shooting their heavy guns daily. That describes the place I got my bull this past season.

I know this is not the tree stand forum, but I posted it here thinking some of you might benefit from this when considering where to hunt, set up, or even camp. I hunt by myself and do all of my own packing on my back. So far, the Lord has allowed me to continue hunting effectively, even though I cannot pack a mature elk out for miles. I just look for legal places I can manage and that I can see evidence the elk are coming around.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby 7mmfan » 11 08, 2022 •  [Post 2]

You are right Swede, deer and elk become accustomed to the presence of people relatively quickly, and tolerate it if they are not bothered or harassed. One of my favorite deer hunting spots was a clear cut that bordered private property. From the spot I liked to sit I could see two houses, and could hear people and dogs constantly. One of the private land owners decided to make the clear-cut their personal motocross track. It was highly illegal, on DNR land, and I reported them many times for it but nothing appeared to ever happen. I can remember multiple times having the group come blasting through on their motorcycles just to have deer appear minutes later as if nothing had happened. The deer were used to it, and it didn't bother them.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Tigger » 11 08, 2022 •  [Post 3]

I take a different view on this. It certainly can happen that game does not worry about vehicles, but it certainly can as well.

My uncle drove his ATV out to his deer stand about 20 years ago roughly. About 100 yards from his stand, he saw a buck and doe. He got off his ATV, loaded his gun, and shot it. In his mind, from that moment on, deer didnt care about ATVs. For the next 15 years, he parked 100 yards or less from his tree stand. Never shot a mature buck again. He gave up on that spot and moved. I put my son's stand about 50 yards from his. We have taken 5 mature bucks in 4 years from that spot. What changed? No ATV.

I look at it like this. Vehicles will have 1 of 3 affects on game.
1. They could attract game....we all know this is not the case.
2. They could be neutral....this is the case in which Swede described. No affect. Certainly this is true....some of the time.
3. They could scare off game......this also true some of the time. I have seen deer see a parked ATV or truck and take a wide berth around it. Have even used it to my advantage a few times.

So if you are going to bank on #2, go for it. But I will not be parking within 100 yards of where I hunt.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Swede » 11 08, 2022 •  [Post 4]

I have found it make a difference or no difference in different places.

Swede wrote:There are times and places where I park my vehicle very near (!00 yards away) my tree stand. Often it does not seem to matter. I was parked close by this last September when I shot my elk.


Swede wrote:I hunt it because elk show up there and I have taken several at that spot.


I hunt elk that are generally on the move. They come and go. The roads and high use areas are stationary. The elk don't stop at the campsite. They pass nearby. The elk are familiar with the high use roads and destinations and don't get excited hearing human related activity.

Years ago, Wyoming did a study that I checked out. They were studying the effects of human activity on Mule deer. The deer had heart monitors on them. They were bedded near a major highway. As long as the traffic kept going the deer's heartrate remained unchanged. When people stopped nearby and got out of their vehicles the deer's heartrate became faster. If the people approached the deer, then their heartrate was even more rapid, and they got up and left.

One of the places I have hunted near a road and high use destination, I found accidently when I had hiked cross country for a couple of miles. It looked secluded and showed heavy game trail activity and wallowing at the spring I had just discovered. As I sat in my new stand, I heard people talking above me. I just thought it was a couple of dumb hunters. Soon after I started hearing vehicles pass by above. I did not pack up and leave. The sign on the ground said elk used the spot frequently. Since that day I found the access to that location from the road, and we have taken quite a few elk there. The pack out is fairly easy if they don't head downslope for any long distance. The key is to check out the area and know when/how the elk are using it.

I am not recommending hunting high use areas per se just for the sake of hunting them. I would not bypass them either just because there is a campsite nearby or the highway close. In many elk areas there are roads, industrial activities and recreation sites. Maybe, just maybe a person would do well to check them out. If there is no elk sign there, then move on. Just don't assume elk won't use these locations. Check them out.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby wawhitey » 11 08, 2022 •  [Post 5]

Few years ago i had several treestands set up for a big buck i was after. Where i was parked camping, with big fires every night to warm my bones, was only about 150 yards from one of my stands, but with a steep hill between my truck and the close stand, with the stand on the downhill side of it. Anyway, of all my stands, i saw the most action there. Both the buck i was after and another real old bad boy. Had my bow drawn on my target buck twice out of that stand the previous season, but didnt release an arrow. My being camped out in my rig 150 yards away didnt seem to bother the deer at all.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Lefty » 11 08, 2022 •  [Post 6]

I try to hide my truck from others and game.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Swede » 11 08, 2022 •  [Post 7]

Keep hiding your vehicle from the deer and elk. You just never know when one of them might steal your catalytic converter. I have sat in my truck when these villains crossed the road in front of me. I am sure they were casing my converter just to make my vehicle load and give them an even greater chance of escaping when I went for my tree stand.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby saddlesore » 11 15, 2022 •  [Post 8]

I was out deer hunting a couple of weeks ago. Standing in my truck bed watching for deer to squirt out of the corn field the farmer was combining. Doe sthat count
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Tigger » 11 15, 2022 •  [Post 9]

Did it work? Any luck? Is there some venny on the table tonight?
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Swede » 11 15, 2022 •  [Post 10]

I had a bear come and sniff at the front of my pickup then back off, and just stare at it for a while before just walking away. I think there was some scent on the truck, but I have no idea what it could have been. I have sat in my pickup to watch over a clear-cut logging unit. Usually, it is a waste of time, but once in a while it pays off.
If you are going to hunt a corn field, it helps to get in a tractor.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby saddlesore » 11 15, 2022 •  [Post 11]

Tigger wrote:Did it work? Any luck? Is there some venny on the table tonight?
' No,where the deer came out was not where I thought they would.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Jhg » 11 30, 2022 •  [Post 12]

I have seen really nice whitetail bucks bedded mid-day 20' off the road. They are in a little bunch of saplings usually and very hard to see and if you are in a moving vehicle you are not going to see them at all. Elk are the same way in that they, as described, become accustomed to nearby activity. But my guess is that very few people ever actually walk through that pocket the elk are in. So its as safe a place as any.

I am already planning for next year and hope to re-install a scouting routine into my summer. This has been missing for a few years. Places this thread now has me considering are near roads or a "camp" that hosts week long retreats for kids and adults.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Jhg » 11 30, 2022 •  [Post 13]

Swede wrote:If you are going to hunt a corn field, it helps to get in a tractor.


A Swede-ism right there
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Indian Summer » 12 02, 2022 •  [Post 14]

I knew a guy in Montana, his family moved up from Texas. Not much of an elk hunter. He drove his truck to a trailhead and got out. Dropped the tailgate to get his gear out. When he slammed the tailgate shut a bull bugled about 200 yards away. He cow called and the bull bugled right back now at 100 yards. He was still standing by the rear bumper when the bull stepped right out into the parking area. He shot it and it fell over dead within sight. It was a 7x7 bull and one of the 3 biggest bulls I ever saw come from that area.

I went up there and slammed my tailgate every morning for a week but no luck. :lol:
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby wawhitey » 12 02, 2022 •  [Post 15]

Swede wrote:I had a bear come and sniff at the front of my pickup then back off, and just stare at it for a while before just walking away. I think there was some scent on the truck, but I have no idea what it could have been. I have sat in my pickup to watch over a clear-cut logging unit. Usually, it is a waste of time, but once in a while it pays off.
If you are going to hunt a corn field, it helps to get in a tractor.


I told a guy on another forum where to camp, and hike in to hunt bears in my home territory with a spring permit. He sent me pics a few days later. While he was hunting, a bear at his camp got into his cooler, ate all his steaks, and helped himself to a whiteclaw too :lol:
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Jhg » 12 03, 2022 •  [Post 16]

Indian Summer wrote:
I went up there and slammed my tailgate every morning for a week but no luck. :lol:


Ford tailgates won't work. I thought you knew that.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Swede » 12 19, 2022 •  [Post 17]

Just after noon today I drove by a field and saw about 50 elk standing around and feeding near the highway. Does anyone believe all the posts on forums about elk being bedded down from 10AM thru 4PM? From years of experience, I have learned that what is often true is not always true.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Lefty » 12 19, 2022 •  [Post 18]

I'm seeing all sorts of big game use areas near roads.
It all depends on how secure and their reason for being there.

Often you can see elk from the freeway and highways around here . In the big deserts, when we elk are desperate for food in game refuge sareas .

Most animals can get accustomed to people or they can work on their flight or flight depending on their interactions.
And there are also those weird anomaly elk too.

On our way to Dylan this year pick up supplies along the freeway I heard bowl a satellite bowl and 20 cows and calves were bedded literally 150 yards from the freeway.
It happens but not always
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby saddlesore » 12 22, 2022 •  [Post 19]

Swede wrote:Just after noon today I drove by a field and saw about 50 elk standing around and feeding near the highway. Does anyone believe all the posts on forums about elk being bedded down from 10AM thru 4PM? From years of experience, I have learned that what is often true is not always true.


The colder it is, or the longer they have to look for forage, the longer elk will be out feeding.

Many years ago archery hunting for deer right outside Albuquerque, I had climbed up quite a ways into the foothills. As I was glassing, I could see my truck several deer were standing around it,not doing much, but they stayed there 45 minutes to an hour.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Swede » 12 22, 2022 •  [Post 20]

Early one scorching hot (low 90s) afternoon I headed to my tree stand. I decided to get there early in case any elk would come in for water. On the way to my stand, I needed to hike over a noll and pass by a large grassy opening. The opening must have been 40 acres in size. Right out in the middle, in the hot sun stood about 20 elk grazing away. I have no idea how many times I have seen game animals out in the early and mid-afternoon when I was going somewhere to hunt.
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby saddlesore » 12 22, 2022 •  [Post 21]

I always heard that elk will get up from their beds around noon -1 o'clock, move a bit and then bed back down. I have found elk standing around in lodge pole pine s during the day,not bedded.

Proof that elk do not read the rule books
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby MidwestHunter » 01 28, 2023 •  [Post 22]

saddlesore wrote:I always heard that elk will get up from their beds around noon -1 o'clock, move a bit and then bed back down. I have found elk standing around in lodge pole pine s during the day,not bedded.

Proof that elk do not read the rule books


I think that is a general thought. This is also said of Midwest whitetails, and they get up and chew their cud and reposition and stay bedded until right before dark..... I have seen plenty of deer up and moving mid-day, but I can't 100% say they weren't pressured to do so. From what I have seen on TV (not sure if it is real or not) whitetails in Montana in low pressured areas tend to move ALL day. So maybe some of these general ideas are created because of the pressure, and some are contradicted by it....
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Re: Parking Near My Tree Stand

Postby Swede » 01 29, 2023 •  [Post 23]

I often set in my tree stand over a water hole near a bedding area. Elk often bed down in the shade in the late morning and often stay in the area until late afternoon. They get up and move around as the sun changes where the shade is.
Sometimes elk come out of their bedding place to get water. That is more likely when it is hot. When they get up the bulls will often rub their antlers. You can find their path to the water hole by observing a series of rubbed trees that make a rub trail.
I use terms like sometimes and often as there are few absolutes and "always" habits with elk. Sometimes they will get up in the early afternoon and go to feed when the temps are in the upper 80s. I can only speculate why they do, but I have seen it happen.
The most aggravating thing is when you leave at noon to go get a lunch, the elk come in to wallow or get a drink while you are gone.
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